A second phase of your conversation with your prospective new pastor needs to be around salary expectations and benefits but it should be conveyed in a way that goes beyond just the dollar figure. Most pastors are aware that they will not get rich in their profession, but at the same time they want to feel as if they were treated fairly in arriving at the financial terms of their call.
I once had the person from the PNC tell me the financial package. When it came to the housing allowance, I said that I was not familiar with the average rent in the area but assumed that he, who was in real estate, would be familiar with that and that the committee would make a fair offer. He said that he would check on it and when he came back, he raised the amount of the housing allowance. It did make me wonder what would have happened if I had not raised the issue. Maybe a good place for a PNC to begin would be to ask the type of housing, rent, buy, etc. that the pastor had in mind and then to do some research as to the average availability of housing in the area. The very conversation would establish some openness in negotiating the package.
A second step might be to honestly acknowledge the importance of arriving at a fair salary within the framework of the financial conditions of the church. You have on their PIF, their range of salary expectations. You could have done some research ahead of time. You can go to www.pensions.org for some helpful statistics on ministers’ compensation. There is also a helpful web site for comparing cost of living across the country at www.bankrate.com. There is also a section in the Committee On Ministry (COM) handbook that is available at www.pcusa.org/minisers/finances.htm . Having done some of this research conveys the message that you take the needs of the clergy seriously.
Finances are not the only important aspect of a package but they are an important part.
